VW Dieselgate exec Schmidt gets maximum jail sentence: 7 years

VW Dieselgate exec Schmidt gets maximum jail sentence: 7 years

A Volkswagen manager who pleaded guilty to deceiving regulators in the United States over the emissions of the company's TDI diesel engines has been sentenced to the maximum penalty of seven years in prison and the maximum fine of $400,000.

"This crime ... attacks and destroys the very foundation of our economic system," said federal court judge Sean Cox In handing down the sentence for Oliver Schmidt. "That is trust."

"Senior management at Volkswagen has not been held accountable," he noted.

Before his sentencing, Schmidt attempted to show remorse for his role in the scandal by penning a letter to Cox.

In that letter, Schmidt wrote, "The last eleven months behind bars in the United States has been the most difficult time in my life. I am truly embarrassed/ashamed to be standing in front of you."

He also explained, “Being arrested on the toilet of the airport in Miami by (eight) law enforcement officers and then being led to my wife in handcuffs was one of the most humiliating experiences of my life up until then. This humiliation was surpassed by the public shaming that followed. My mugshot became the face of Dieselgate worldwide.”

This past August, Volkswagen's U.S. head of diesel compliance James Robert Liang was sentenced to 40 months in prison and given a $200,000 fine for his involvement in the deception.

Volkswagen itself pleaded guilty earlier this year to three criminal charges related to Dieselgate. It was fined $2.8 billion and given three years of probation on top of a civil settlement reached with the Environmental Protection Agency requiring the company to pay a $14.7 billion penalty.